Leaders urged to address access to education by nomads

April 2, 2016 4:06 pm

Education Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i asked leaders to address the barriers that hinder access to education by building bridges between politics and policy/file

By MARGARET NJUGUNAH, NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 2 – Nomadic communities’ policymakers have been urged to ensure that children in those regions get access to quality education.

Education Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i asked leaders to address the barriers that hinder access to education by building bridges between politics and policy.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I therefore urge devolved governments in nomadic communities to mobilize resources to compliment the National Government in addressing the access education,” he said.

Matiang’i was speaking when he officially opened a National conference on education in nomadic communities in a Nairobi hotel Thursday.

Organized under the theme of ‘The last mile: 2030- providing access and quality education to nomadic communities’, the conference was organised under the sponsorship of the National Council for Nomadic Education in Kenya and supported by UNICEF, World Vision, and Department for International Development (DFID) and Save the Children-Kenya.

At the same time, Matiang’i expressed concern over the extremely low access of education by girls in the region compared to their peers who equalled boys nationally.

“While the sector recorded an improvement on access and gender parity, regional and county disparities remain evident with arid and semi-arid counties recording the highest levels,” he said.

Data gathered from the Basic Education Statistical Booklet show that nomadic communities make up over 60 percent of the more than one million children out of school nationally.

Matiang’i also called for accurate and reliable data on nomadic education saying government needs to establish whether the intervention that it was making in nomadic education was bearing results or not.